Tennis: Serena Williams remains on course for Olympic gold

August 1, 2012: Serena Williams of the US in action at Wimbledon (GETTY IMAGES)

Wimbledon champion Serena Williams cemented her status as the favourite for Olympic singles gold with a crushing 6-1 6-0 victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva to reach the quarter-finals.

The American, seeded fourth, needed only 51 minutes to cruise through under the Centre Court roof against the bronze medallist from Beijing four years ago.

Williams already has two gold medals to her name in women's doubles with sister Venus, and were she to match that in singles, she would join Steffi Graf in winning all four grand slam titles and the Olympics in her career.

In the last eight Williams will meet either eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki or Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

PA